It is a huge honour to be invited to speak at the Women Who Sail Australia annual conference – The Gathering in April 2018. I joined the Women Who Sail Facebook group back in early 2014, and discovered an incredible network of female sailors all over the world. Then I joined the Women Who Sail…
There is something extremely wild and rugged about big waves crashing up a windswept beach. The force and power of the swell as it silently rolls towards the land before curling its top and sending white water smashing and crashing, then fizzing like champagne as it rushes up the sand, greedily grabbing little shells with…
In 1774 Captain James Cook attempted to land on a tiny volcanic coral atoll in the South Pacific, about 1500 miles North East of New Zealand. The locals however had other ideas, and Captain Cook was attacked with spears and he retreated and sailed off naming the tropical paradise “Savage Island”. Thankfully these days the…
I am very proud to have had another article published in the September 2017 Boating New Zealand magazine. This time I wrote about beautiful Banks Peninsula – our home sailing grounds, and some of the fabulous places that we have in our backyard to explore. You can read the article on the Boating NZ website…
Isn’t it amazing that after 14 years, I am still learning things about my boat?! One day Andrew casually asked when the last time was that I replaced the water hoses on the motor. “Ummmmmm… hoses, what hoses?? Oh those black ones…? – nope never replaced them” I replied. “Well you do know that if…
Three years ago Wildwood was in bad need of a new topside paint job. But instead of getting her painted I decided to have her wrapped instead. At the time I had lots of questions about boat wrapping and many people asked me to keep them posted with how the wrap performed compared to regular…
Before you start wondering if I have completely lost the plot, STOP! Those who follow the Astrolabe Sailing Facebook or Instagram pages may have noticed the odd photo of my beautiful boat Wildy absolutely covered in bird poo. Now for someone who is very ‘boat proud’ and who thinks her boat is the most beautiful…
The alarm clock’s piercing tone awoke me from a deep sleep at 3am. I felt like my head had only just hit the pillow, but no time to waste – we had an adventure ahead and so I jumped in the shower to wake myself up and awaited the arrival of my friends Vic, James…
My friend Craig Edwards has a Young 88 called Flying Machine. We spend lots of time cruising with these guys up and down the South Island coastline and attempting to race them around Lyttelton Harbour. Craig has got a wicked sense of humour and tells some fantastic stories which get me rolling around in fits…
Ten years ago we didn’t have smart phones or iPads, and sailors managed to get by perfectly well without them. But there is no doubt that times and technology have changed, and there are some seriously cool apps out there that can make life on the water just that little bit easier. So what awesome…
Astrolabe Sailing 